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Knitted Hats

February 24, 2015 By Chie

When it comes to knitting, I am a beginner. This winter is the first winter I attempted to knit DPN (Double Pointed Needles, in case you are wondering!), and I was dying to get used to the new way of knitting, so I kept knitting hats. I ended up knitting six hats in total, most of which I’ve given away as gifts. The process of knitting is so soothing and it is a great activity to do when I watch movies and shows (currently finishing up White Queen). I’ve started knitting Kiko’s sweater, but I am less motivated as I think I made a wrong yarn choice. I hope I can put it together before the winter ends.

This Cable knit hat pattern is from Lion Brand. It is an adult hat pattern, but kiko modeled it for me.

No pattern used for this one. I just made it up as I went along. This was a gift for my friend’s new born baby.

Slouch Hat Beanie pattern from here. It’s simple and quick! I added jewel buttons with clear elastic.

Pattern from No Home Without You, amazing Finish blog about knitting and interior design.

Some more fun knitting hats ideas…
– Triangle stripe hat from Charlotte’s Fancy.
– Knitted in super chunky yarns.
– Bright orange and pink color block hat.
– Colorful kids hat inspiration. Good way to use left over yarns.

Before & After | Cardigan to Cropped Sweater

February 20, 2015 By Chie

I love the cropped top trend and I hope it will continue for a few more seasons. I wore this pink floral one in the Summer and got a good amount of wear out of it; however, I didn’t really get the rationale behind the cropped sweater since you wear sweater in the winter to keep yourself warm but if your belly is exposed, it defeats the purpose. I know that in my head, but when something is trendy, I just can’t seem to let it pass (evidence here for the neon trend).

I’m in a bit of a upcycling phase where I’m taking old clothes and give it new life as you can see it from my last post. I bought this gray sweater cardigan a few years ago from 390 mart. It’s one of my favorite shops in Tokyo! It is a mixture of vintage clothing and kitsy random zakka items like scented candles, make-up pouches and key chains. As far as I know, there are only two, in Machida city and Harajuku.

This DIY was super simple. I took off the buttons (and saved them for a future project) and sewed the front part together. The cardigan has a hood, but I sewed up as much as I can, leaving enough space for my head to go through. It resulted in kind of like a turtle neck, and it keeps my neck warm.

The cardigan was short enough so I did not do anything to make it look “cropped”.

Tokyo winter is not as cold as Philly, where I used to live but it still gets pretty cold in winter. I go everywhere by bike, so I usually have to dress appropriately to bike outside. I wore this over a maxi dress I made so head to toe was covered.

また洋服をリメークしました♥
３９０マートで数年前に買ったカーディガンのボタンを外し、前を縫い合わせてクロップセーターに。

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Before & After | Cocktail Dress to Pleated Skirt

February 17, 2015 By Chie

After reading about Wardrobe Rehab over at a pair & a spare, I try to review my closet every few months to get rid of clothes that I don’t wear by donating them to thrift shops. Although I made this a regular practice, there are some items that I neglected to part with even though I don’t wear them at all. This cocktail dress is one of those items. I do have an emotional attachment to this dress as this was the dress I wore to my engagement party nine years ago. After that, I wore this once for a work party, but not since. Since I bought the dress nine years ago, now being 30, I feel like this dress is too young for me.Instead of getting rid of the dress all together, I upcycled it by making it into a knee length skirt.

Here is how:

You need:
1. babydoll style dress with pleated skirt (stretch material)
2. 2″ wide elastic band cut in your waist length + 1″ for seam allowance

It was a baby doll style dress, so first I cut off the top part. Sorry for all the white fuzz in the pictures! Right before this DIY, I was working on a white fur… I made a tissue case cover.

Sew the elastic band and attach it to the skirt you just cut. Since the skirt waist was bigger than my elastic, I stretched the elastic as I sewed it onto the skirt.